


Cold as Ice (but it's warm with you)

by capstiel



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Clara is also an Idiot, Cold Weather, Cuddling, F/M, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Porn With Plot, the doctor is an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:42:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26335087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capstiel/pseuds/capstiel
Summary: The TARDIS is mad, and so is Clarai.e The Doctor promises a trip to a space beach, but instead it's freezing cold and it'sdefinitelynot supposed to be
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38





	Cold as Ice (but it's warm with you)

“Wow it’s-”

“Yes?”

“It’s nice!”

“Oh come on you could at least pretend to like it,” The Doctor scoffed. Clara was wearing a look that said she didn’t think it was nice at all, if anything she looked revolted.

“Well I mean it’s just different is all,” she crossed her arms over her t-shirt clad chest. “Not exactly what I was expecting.”

“Well I did say it was a space beach, remember?”

The beach in question was very much like an Earth beach, in the Doctor’s opinion. There was a large body of liquid, and there was some sort of finely powdered dirt-ish stuff lining the shore. Clara’s main complaint was coming from the fact that it was cold, very cold, and she was very underdressed; wearing a loose t-shirt and running shorts over a bathing suit. Some Earth beaches were cold too though, so she shouldn’t have been that surprised.

Besides, well, that he was also underdressed, sporting a tank top and navy swim trunks that were dotted with multiple different colors of bow ties, Clara had been quite humoured when she first saw them. Needless to say, he had expected it to be warm as well.

“Alright, fine,” the Doctor sighed, “the temperature isn’t ideal for a swim, but the scenery is quite nice.”

“It’s pretty,” Clara smiled, glad that he was admitting his mistake without any prying. “Maybe I could hop back in the TARDIS and put on a jacket?”

“I suppose, wouldn’t want to waste a good trip out here,” the Doctor grumbled, they were still standing right outside the ship.

“I know you’re cold too,” Clara glanced towards his unusually bare arms, “come on, don’t be stubborn.”

“Who says I’m cold?”

“You literally have goosebumps!”

“I have superior biology, I’m fine.”

Clara was about to retort, she couldn’t help but love their light-hearted banter, but something caught her eye. “Doctor, what kind of species lives here?”

“Ah, multiple, but natively the Weimpai. They’re fairly advanced, a little bit behind your modern-day Earth, but they’re on the right path.”

“Are they friendly?” Clara asked, still glancing over the Doctor’s shoulder. Someone (or thing) was making their way towards them, and rather quickly.

“Yes, they’re quite friendly, why?”

“Well I think one of them is heading our way,” Clara pointed, and the Doctor spun around quickly, a smile growing on his face.

“Hello!” He called out, waving one hand a bit obnoxiously. The other alien headed their way was finally close enough for Clara to see properly. They were sort of humanoid, but their skin was baby blue, and instead of arms, tentacles were extending out the bottom of their sleeves. Their face was also sort of fish-like, with big, round eyes, and nostrils that were flat to the rest of their face.

The native didn’t look as pleased to see the Doctor as he did them. “Who are you?” They called out, their voice was higher in pitch than Clara expected.

“I’m the Doctor!” He took a few long strides forward through the dark-colored sand. “It’s awful cold here, is the temperature always like this?”

The local let out a short laugh, “not a great time to be a tourist, this season frost has come upon us, we’ve never seen a season like this before. I suggest you leave sooner rather than later.”

“We just got here!” The Doctor exclaimed, as if the idea of leaving so soon was insulting,

“I’d love to hear more about the weather, how far out is town?”

The local looked a bit put off at the Doctor’s boldness, “not far, but there’s not much there for tourists.”

“That’s okay, I’ve always been into more unconventional trips.”

Clara was still standing a few feet behind, still cold and wishing she would have had time to put on a jumper. She should have known a trip to the beach would be too simple. Zoned out, and away from the Doctor’s conversation, she was surprised when suddenly both he and the native’s eyes were on her.

“She’s with me,” the Doctor said, “I promise she won’t be trouble.”

Clara waved awkwardly, “yeah, no trouble here.” For some reason that made the Doctor laugh, and she glared in his direction.

It was cold, and the sky was dark, but the beach was rather pretty. Blue-black sand lined the shore, and the water (or whatever liquid it was) was purple rather than blue. The Doctor looked ridiculous in his bowtie themed swim shorts, especially compared to the native who was bundled up thickly in a winter coat and scarf.

The Doctor waved her over, and she headed towards his side, hoping maybe at the very least he’d be radiating some sort of body heat. The alien started leading the way, presumably, towards the nearest town. “We’ll just take a quick look to make sure this isn’t something dangerous,” the Doctor said under his breath, leaning down slightly.

“Do you think there’s something dangerous going on?” Clara asked, already knowing the answer.

The Doctor answered by throwing his arm around her shoulders and dragging her along, following their alien guide.

The sand was cold as it hit Clara’s feet, she internally cursed herself for wearing sandals. The Doctor wasn’t radiating as much heat as she had hoped. “Better let me change soon,” she muttered.

“I’ll buy you a jumper at the gift shop,” the Doctor replied, his eyes still straight ahead on their guide, Clara smiled.

The walk wasn’t that long, but it also wasn’t that short. By the time Clara caught sight of civilization she was feeling a bit numb from the cold. The town looked like it hadn’t been built for temperatures this low, the buildings were small, and made of wood, with grass and straw roofs. There wasn’t a soul wandering around outside besides themselves.

“You can come inside,” their guide had been quite silent the whole walk. He was ushering them into one of the nearest buildings. The doorway was low, and the Doctor had to lean slightly to avoid hitting his head.

The inside was warm. Clara couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief, there was definitely some sort of heating system in place. After taking in the warmth for a moment, she remembered she was on a foreign planet, and began to look around the room. It wasn’t very big, there were a few tables set up on the wooden floor. On the back wall there was another door. Light in the room was coming from an assortment of candles and lanterns.

“Ah, it’s a nice place,” the Doctor was walking deeper into the room, “It’s cozy.”

“It’s an old cafe,” the native said. “I don’t know why you’re here, but I have business to attend to so I must leave you here.”

“Who is in charge of this town?” The Doctor asked.

“Our elder, Lurcuadus. Though if you want to meet him it may be a far shot, he stays in most of the time these days.”

“Thank you,” the Doctor bowed his head slightly, and the alien wasted no more time, leaving the cafe the way they came in.

“Now I know you’re going to complain about being cold again,”

“Actually I’m not, it’s warm in here.”

The Doctor raised a brow, “I want to talk to the elder, I don’t think this is natural.”

“Well nothing I say is going to stop you.”

“That’s right Clara,” he smiled rather triumphantly. “I won’t be long, you can even stay here if you want to.”

“Nah, I’d get bored, plus knowing you I’d end up getting left behind for hours.”

“Would not!”

“We don’t know where he lives, how will we find him?”

“Well he’s the leader of the village, he’s bound to have the nicest place.”

“That logic feels a bit off.”

“Well come on, my toes are starting to regain feeling it’s all tingly,” the Doctor motioned with his hand and headed out the door before Clara could question him.

There was a large gust of wind almost immediately after Clara stepped outside. Her hair flew into her face and she groaned, the Doctor and his damn long legs were already quite a few feet ahead of her. She hurried up, her heels were beginning to hurt from her sandals digging into them, not much longer and the Doctor was going to owe her a new jumper and a foot massage.

“Do you think that one looks the biggest?” The Doctor was pointing towards a building that definitely looked bigger than the rest.

“You sure that’s a house?” Clara finally caught up, “looks a little too big.”

“Well rather too big than not big enough, yeah?”

“What?” Clara tilted her head.

“Nevermind!”

They headed towards the building, Clara gripping onto the Doctor’s arm because he was walking too fast for her liking. It was thankfully nowhere near as long of a walk as the one from the beach.

Standing in front of the front door, the Doctor raised a fist, and didn’t hesitate to knock.

It was a few moments before Clara heard any movement inside the house, or whatever kind of building it actually was. The door swung open slowly, revealing another native who looked very much like the alien that had been their guide. “Ah, hello,” they said, “can I help you?”

“We’re new in town,” the Doctor said, “we were hoping to see your village elder.”

“Oh, um,” the native glanced back inside the building, “he usually doesn’t accept any guests.”

“Tell him I’m the Doctor.”

“The doctor? Oh, I’ll pass on your message just wait here a moment,” the local talked a bit timidly, but didn’t have a problem shutting the door in their faces, leaving them out in the cold.

“I guess your hypothesis was right,” Clara said, trying her best to lighten the mood. Her eyes were watering from the cold wind, and her arms had been dawning goosebumps for as long as she could remember.

“I’m usually right,” the Doctor said, he glanced in her direction and frowned. “You should have stayed back, you’re cold.”

“I can handle the cold,” Clara said, although she’d much rather be inside at the moment.

The Doctor had apparently fallen into one of his ‘caring about her wellbeing’ moods. He was strange in that way, sometimes he wouldn’t notice she was missing, and other times he’d be determined not to let her get the tiniest scratch. Clara couldn’t help but find it endearing. “I was hoping I could use you as a radiator, but you’re just as cold as me,” Clara laughed, “what happened to superior biology?”

“It’s still superior,” the Doctor grumbled. “Something is off about the residents here.”

“Like what?”

“They seem very reserved.”

“Maybe that’s just their culture,” Clara shrugged.

“No it must be the climate,” the Doctor shook his head, “the Weimpai have always been a very, erm, provocative culture.”

Clara tried to imagine the two natives they had met as provocative, but they had both been bundled up like they were in the arctic. “Suppose they’re really not used to the cold.”

“Let’s hope that’s all it is,” the Doctor said, just before the door re-opened in front of them.

“Elder Lurcuadus will see you,” it was the same alien they’d been talking to before.

“Excellent!” The Doctor smiled.

The inside of the home was a lot like the cafe they had been in before, with wood floors and gas lanterns. It was clear it was a home only because of the furniture scattered around. They headed through a mostly barren foyer into what seemed to be a living room, with a wicker couch covered in a blanket, and a few matching chairs.

“The Elder is in his quarters,” they were told, and they headed further in.

The Elder’s room was hidden behind a beaded curtain as opposed to a door. The native pushed through first, and then Clara followed closely behind the Doctor.

This room was much different from the living room, the biggest difference being the lack of furniture. The second being the amount of people inside. Seated in the middle of the floor was, in Clara’s opinion, undoubtedly the village elder. He was larger all around than the other Weimpai they had met so far, and was wearing a sort of crown of jewels. A handful of other Weimpai were sitting on the floor around him.

Upon entering, everyone in the room glanced upwards.

“You’re here to see me,” Lurcuadus said, “what can I do for you?”

The Doctor took the lead, crouching down to sit on the floor in the small amount of free space in front of the doorway. “Was just passing by and I’m troubled to see the weather has taken quite a drastic turn since the last time I was here.”

“Ah yes, you’re not the first to notice,” Lurcuadus nodded slowly, “unfortunately we don’t know much about the change. Surely the Gods must have been angered.”

Clara sat down next to the Doctor, having to turn her legs in an uncomfortable position to fit right. “I was hoping I could offer some help, actually,” the Doctor said.

“You know about the weather?” Lurcuadus’s already large eyes widened, “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

“The Doctor.”

“You’re a doctor?”

“Yes, of sorts,” he scratched the back of his head. “I tend to be able to help out in situations like this.”

“Well, I grant you the freedom to investigate at your own leisure. This frost has been robbing us of crops and wild hunt, any sort of help is welcome.”

“I hoped you would say that!”

“The Doctor, and who is this?” He was referring to Clara, suddenly all eyes in the room were on her.

“This is Clara,” the Doctor said before she could even open her mouth.

“Is she also a doctor?”

“Ah- no, no-”

“I won’t be in the way, I’m here to help as well,” Clara offered a crooked smile.

“She’s my companion,” the Doctor nodded, “I take full responsibility for her.”

“I see,” the Elder smiled softly, and Clara felt as if he had gotten the wrong idea.

“We’ll get started right away,” the Doctor said, “it shouldn’t take too long.”

A few hours later, and Clara was wearing an oversized jumper, watching the Doctor point his sonic screwdriver at just about anything he could find. He was wearing the same jumper as her, it was dark green, and the sleeves were slightly too short on his long arms. It had been the only long sleeve piece of clothing they could find in the little shop they had stopped in, and apparently most clothes were one-size-fits-all in this town.

“It’s as if something is sucking the energy right out of this planet,” the Doctor said as he walked past Clara once more.

“Is there a sun?” Clara asked, currently the sky was dark and littered with far away stars.

“Yes, it only comes out once every 48 hours though. It’s closer to the planet than the sun is to Earth so it should be keeping the planet nice and toasty.”

“You think you’re going to be able to find anything?”

“Well, I don’t know,” the Doctor turned to frown in her direction. “I want to take a look at the sun, but there’s still almost a whole day-worth of time before that will come out again.”

“We could hop in the TARDIS,” Clara said, “skip to then.”

“I’m having a bad feeling about that,” the Doctor said, “something is telling me that’s a bad idea.”

“Well you’re not usually one to wait,” Clara pointed out. The TARDIS had been a bit moody lately, though, she supposed the Doctor might have a point.

“Well it was supposed to be a vacation,” the Doctor said, but he was still grimacing. “I’m sure we could kill time for a while.”  
He went back to sonicing and Clara sighed. Even with a sweater on, it was very cold outside. She was close to complaining again when she heard the sound of a door closing nearby. It didn’t take her long to notice that someone was walking out of the Elder’s estate.

“Doctor,” they called out. The Doctor turned in their direction. Clara still hadn’t been able to differentiate between male and female in the species, they all looked almost exactly the same.

“Elder Lurcuadus has set up a room for you and your mate at our local inn, if you need to stay longer than expected.”

Mate, Clara almost laughed. It wasn’t the first time her and the Doctor had been mistaken as a couple, but it still always took her aback. The Doctor was confusing, sometimes a flirt, sometimes too shy to hug her back. He was most definitely attractive, but Clara was convinced, at this point, that he just wasn’t the romantic type, or maybe just not the relationship type. He was certainly sweet, he held her hand when she was scared, and reassured her when she was worried, but he had never hinted that he wanted anything more than that. Clara tried not to think about it often, it only made her feel disappointed. She was lucky enough to spend every day with him in the TARDIS.

“Oh that’s fantastic,” the Doctor smiled, “if you could point us in the right direction we’d much appreciate it!”

The alien did as they were asked, and began to lead the Doctor down the dirt path they had been walking along. The inn turned out to be smaller than the Elder’s home, which felt backwards. Inside, warm air hit them like a wave. There was one floor, and only 4 or 5 different rooms for rent. They were led to room number 2, and then the native left them behind. None of the locals seemed very talkative.

The room they were given wasn’t very big. One large bed sat in almost directly the center, and there was a small bathroom off to the side. Clara found herself drifting towards the bed. “It’s warm,” she said, sitting down on the edge of the mattress, giving her aching feet a break.

“Quite,” the Doctor nodded, “was certainly a nice gesture.”

“Are we going to stay the night?” Clara asked. The mattress was much more comfortable than she’d expected.

“Only if we absolutely have to,” the Doctor said. He was standing awkwardly near the doorway.

Clara rolled her eyes, “come on, lighten up. What’s the matter?”

“Not a fan of this,” he motioned vaguely with his hands.

“What’s this?” Clara scoffed.

“You know I don’t like to,” he paused, “be domestic.”

“Oh, a little domesticity won’t kill you,” Clara leaned back on the bed. “Come sit down, I’m sure you’re tired.”

“I don’t get tired,” the Doctor sighed, but he headed towards the bed nonetheless. This wasn’t anything new, in a way. After long days Clara usually was able to convince the Doctor to sit down with her, usually on the couch in her favorite living room of the TARDIS. He was antsy about it, but they had watched a whole list of movies together, at this point it felt natural.

This being a bed made it a little bit different, but not much. The Doctor kicked off the flip flops he’d been wearing all day and Clara laughed when he fell back onto the bed with as little grace as possible. They were laying the wrong way, horizontal instead of vertical, but Clara didn’t mind. The Doctor readjusted so he was on his side, facing her. He claimed to hate domesticity, but was almost always the first to make himself as comfortable as possible.

“I just don’t get it,” he said, “there has to be something interfering here, I just can’t figure out what.”

“Well, maybe it’s their sun. You said you wanted to see it,” Clara replied, “I know you’ll figure it out.”

“And there something else, the way the people are acting isn’t right at all. They’re usually party animals, always out and about and half-dressed, this is wrong.”

“Maybe they’re just worried about the weather, they’ve probably never seen it this cold. And it sounded like their food supply was low.”

The Doctor made a face, “it’s still not right.”

Clara reached over and laid a hand on his shoulder, “you’ll figure it out, just relax for a little bit.”  
The Doctor groaned, but his eyes slid shut in response. Clara let her hand slide off his shoulder. They were a bit couple-y, she supposed, but she didn’t mind.

Clara woke up, and the Doctor was gone. She sat up in bed quickly, at some point he had apparently thrown a blanket over her because she had no recollection of doing it herself. How long had she been asleep? She didn’t even mean to fall asleep in the first place.

Looking out the window didn’t help, it was still dark outside. She accepted the fact that she was going to have to go out into the cold looking for him.

Outside, it felt even colder than she remembered. It was snowing. Just her luck, she stood still for a moment, thinking maybe if she listened hard enough she’d hear the sonic. She didn’t hear anything, so she accepted her fate of having to trek further into town.

When she found him, the Doctor was on his knees in the dirt, pointing his sonic at a pile of rocks. “How’s it going?” Clara asked.

“You startled me,’ the Doctor said, “the rocks seem to be in order.”

“Glad the rocks are doing okay,” Clara crossed her arms over her chest, “how long was I out?”

“An hour and 42 minutes,” the Doctor said, “while you were asleep I found a nice spot to eat dinner, and also learned something quite interesting.”

“And that is?”

“There seems to be a problem within the community, besides the cold.”

“Okay, expand.”

“I told you they were quite provocative, well apparently the Elder has been discouraging that sort of behavior completely.”

“Well, he’s old, doesn't surprise me he’s a conservative.”

“It’s bad, Clara. So bad that young Weimpai haven’t been mating. Which is decreasing population.”

“Oh that’s not good,” Clara frowned, “why would their leader promote something like that?”

“I don’t know, but it’s certainly not good. I may be able to help the weather, but that problem isn’t one I can easily fix.”

“Maybe it’s related,” Clara offered.

“I suppose it’s possible. I did have one idea,” he paused and met Clara’s eye, “nevermind.”

“Doctor, tell me,” Clara frowned, he was usually too loud mouthed about any sort of idea he had.

“Was thinking we could promote an air of inclusion.”

“What do you mean?” Clara could tell he was dancing around words.

“Well you’re pretty Clara, and I’m most certainly pretty, I was thinking if they saw a nice attractive couple walking around they’d have an idea of what they were missing.”

“Doctor!” Clara felt blood rush to her face, “wait- pause- you think I’m pretty?”

“Oh come on, course I think you’re pretty, you already knew that,” he was mumbling in that way he did when he was embarrassed.

Clara smiled wide, “they already thought we were mates, Doctor.”

“Well then, we must just give off that sort of vibe,” he was waving his hands around, “just keep doing whatever you’ve been doing.”

Clara giggled, he got flustered over the silliest things, “I don’t mind grabbing onto you if you grab me back,” she was teasing him at this point, like she had all that time ago when she had teased him about the TARDIS being a snog box.

The Doctor didn’t bother responding, instead he stood up out of his kneeling position. “Are you hungry?”

“Famished,” Clara nodded, still pleased with herself.

They headed away from the pile of rocks, and ended up at a little restaurant. There were quite a few customers inside, talking the liveliest they had seen so far. They were sat, and the Doctor seemed very pleased when the host lit the candle in the middle of the table for them.

The menu was a list of foods neither of them recognized, so they asked for their server to surprise them. They talked about an arrangement of different alien fruits while waiting for their food to arrive, and then were pleasantly surprised when the server brought out some sort of fruit smoothie with their meal.

“Bendy straws!” The Doctor exclaimed, swiping the drink away from Clara’s side of the table. “Isn’t it curious how bendy straws have made their way through so many different cultures?”

“Are you sure you didn’t have anything to do with it?”

“Yes I’m sure, actually, wait, I’m not entirely sure.”

“Are you two enjoying your food?” Clara was startled by the voice of, not their server, but the village elder himself.

“It’s delicious!” The Doctor was halfway through a forkful of food, “I very much approve of your choice of straw!”

The Elder looked a bit confused, but continued on, “I’m happy the village is treating you well, the residents are quite intrigued to know that there are visitors during this time.”

“Well, we hope to help,” the Doctor looked like he was going to say something else, but instead kicked Clara’s foot under the table.

Clara glared at him in confusion, and he gave her a face that said ‘talk’. “It’s a nice town you have,” she said awkwardly, “would hate to see your people suffer anymore than they already have.”

“Yes this turn of season has been quite unfortunate,” the Elder shook his head, “I am deeply grateful that the town is optimistic.”

“Yes that is quite good, I’ve visited here before,” the Doctor lowered his voice, “last time I was here the people were quite a bit more lively.”

“Yes, well this disaster was bound to lower the spirits of them.”

“Clara and I were just talking about how we were hoping to visit one of your famous love clubs.”

Clara’s eyes widened, she certainly hadn’t expected to hear those words come out of the Doctor’s mouth.

“The love clubs, yes a shame, the young people just haven’t been visiting them lately.”  
“We’d love to visit,” the Doctor persisted, “why not open one up for a day to lighten the mood. I bet it would increase the spirits of your people considerably.”

The Elder made a face that said he hated the idea, “maybe you’re right, you two seem to be good influences.”

Clara had no idea what to say, so she reached across the table and grabbed onto the Doctor’s hands. Playing a couple was easy enough.

“We just love to spread love,” the Doctor said, and Clara almost gagged.

“Yes, that’s very nice,” the Elder looked eager to leave the conversation.

“It was nice to talk to you, I’m sure you’re a busy man,” the Doctor smiled wide.

“Yes, I’ll look forward to hearing your results,” the Elder smiled in return, and began to walk away.

“Doctor!” Clara exclaimed once he was out of earshot. “What is a love club?”

“Ah,” the Doctor was suddenly a lot less bold than he had been with the Elder. “Well it’s a club, of course. But with a lot less clothing than usual-”

“It’s a sex club? You just told him we want to go to an alien sex club?”

“Well, yes,” the Doctor glanced away, “don’t worry I have no intention of actually going there.”

Clara raised a brow, “I can’t even imagine, well actually I can-”

“You can stop imagining!”

Clara found she rather liked imagining.

Back in the hotel room, the Doctor was pulling his gift shop sweatshirt over his head, and Clara was watching quite intently as a sliver of skin was revealed below his belly button.

“We’ll rest now, and then by the time you wake up, we’ll be much closer to the sun rising,” the Doctor was saying, muffled by the fabric in front of his face.

“You’re going to sleep too, right?”

“I don’t sleep much Clara,” he dropped his jumper onto the bed.

“Okay not much, but this bed is so comfy! It’s nicer than my bed on the TARDIS!”

“What? No it’s not!”

“How do you know?”

The Doctor tilted his head, “well I don’t know about your bed in specific- I’ll ask her about it.”

“You think the TARDIS made my bed uncomfy on purpose? I thought she was past that!”

“Well I don’t know for sure,” the Doctor shrugged, “I told you, I’ll ask her.”

Clara groaned, “anyways, you’re going to stay here tonight. I don’t want to wake up and find you gone again!”

“Oh nothings going to come get you,” the Doctor said.

Clara pouted.

“Okay, okay,” he sat down next to her, “just because you asked nicely.”

Clara was tired, even after the nap she had taken earlier, she figured it had to do with the fact that the sky had been dark all day. “I’m sure you’ll find something tomorrow.”

“I’d better,” the Doctor was wringing his hands in his lap. “I hate it when it takes this long.”

“Maybe tomorrow you’ll get to visit the love club,” Clara giggled, the Doctor knocked her with his shoulder.

“I’m sure you’d have fun, lots of tentacles.”

“Doctor!”

He laughed, and Clara reached behind herself to grab a pillow to wack him with. Things were nice, they were in a big cozy bed, making sex jokes, and things felt normal. Quite couple-y.

What was probably even more couple-y was the way that the Doctor began shuffling around in bed, propping up pillows, and pulling the covers down. Instead of just laying down he grabbed Clara gently by her wrist and pulled it towards him. Clara could only reason that he was trying to get her to lay down too.

They were both on their side, facing each other, but neither of them said anything for a few moments. Clara didn’t mind, she was taking in the details of the Doctor’s face, and then his neck, and then his exposed collarbones. Clara had been more than a little surprised when the Doctor stepped into the console room that morning wearing something other than a bowtie and suspenders. It wasn’t the first time She’d seen him dressed in something else, but it was definitely the first time he’d revealed so much bare skin in front of her.

He startled her by reaching out and pushing some of her hair out of her face and behind her back. They were close, very close. It would be so easy just to lean forward and kiss him. Clara tried to shake the idea out of her mind, they were friends.

“Clara,” he said softly. Her breath hitched, friends, she kept telling herself, just friends.

She wanted to say something, but the air felt tense. “Doctor,” she found herself saying, “do you like cuddling?”

His eyes widened slightly, and he pulled his hand away from where it had been resting on her shoulder, “sorry,” he said quickly.

Clara had no clue what he was being so timid for, she sighed. It was okay, she could take things into her own hands.  
She reached across the small space between them and grabbed onto the hand the Doctor had just pulled away from her. “Come on it’s cold outside, it would be nice.” The words came out a bit less steady than she had hoped. They were just friends, plenty of friends cuddled, it’s not like she was asking him to kiss her.

The Doctor still looked a little frightened, but he didn’t pull his hand away, “well I guess if you’re cold it wouldn’t hurt,” his lips turned up just slightly, and Clara felt her chest clench. He scooted over a bit, their legs were touching now.

It was an unfortunate time for Clara to realize she liked this a lot more than she thought she would. She tried not to let it show on her face. They were just friends, but the way his long legs were intertwining with her own was giving her butterflies, and the way he was was looking at her with sleepy, half lidded eyes was almost too much. It was so domestic it was ridiculous.

She curled inwards a bit, her forehead was so close to his. She let her eyes slide closed, it was easier than looking at him. She felt him shift a bit, and then felt his hand slide down her side until it landed on her hip. “Goodnight, Clara,” he said quietly, and pressed his lips to her forehead.

“Goodnight, Doctor,” she opened her eyes just enough to watch his slide closed, a soft smile was lingering on his lips.  
He was gorgeous, Clara reached out and rested the palm of her hand on his chest. She could feel his hearts beating. He made an approving noise, and she let her hand explore his clothed chest a bit more.  
Just friends, _just friends_.

Clara woke up feeling very warm, and also like she was stuck underneath a weighted blanket. She opened her eyes slowly, and was pleasantly surprised to find an arm draped over her side. She had rolled over at some point in the night, and the Doctor was now effectively spooning her. His nose was nuzzled into her shoulder. Clara didn’t know if she should move or not. This was incredibly comfortable, but last night she had the epiphany that the Doctor was sweet and caring, and now quite cuddly. Her mind was wandering into the realm of more than just friends, but the Doctor didn’t like her like that, there was no way.  
She was still contemplating moving when the Doctor made a noise behind her, and then snuggled even farther into her shoulder. “Good morning Clara,” he mumbled, his voice was lower than usual, and it was clear that he was still half asleep.

“Good morning Doctor,” Clara replied, which seemed to wake him up.

He pulled back from her slightly, but his arm stayed resting over her side. “This okay?’ He asked.

Clara intertwined her fingers with the hand that was hanging over her, “you’re a nice blanket,” she said. She was surprised he hadn’t jumped away from her upon waking up.

“I suppose that would make you the teddy bear then,” the Doctor said, she giggled.

“You’re awfully domestic this morning,” she commented.

“No I’m not, I hate domestic.”

Clara scoffed, “I’m sure you’re itching to get up and go monster hunting then.”

“Actually now that you mention it,” He pulled away from her back, and Clara was disappointed by the loss of heat as he sat up.

“We have investigating to do.”

“I can’t wait to go back into the cold,” Clara grumbled.

“Oh don’t be like that,” the Doctor was climbing out of bed. “You got me to sleep with you, you should be content.”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“Don’t think it like that!” The Doctor had walked around to her side of the bed so that she could see him. “No more lounging, come on Clara.”

“You’re going to have to drag me out at this point,” Clara said.

“I know you wouldn’t like that.”

He was right, the thought of being dragged wasn’t particularly nice. She propped herself up into a sitting position. He was watching her with a look she didn’t recognize.

“Put on that jumper I got you,” the Doctor said, glancing away. “No time to waste.”

It was just as cold as the day before. The sun was due to come up in a couple hours according to the Doctor. They held hands as they walked into town, the Doctor had said something about ‘looking like a couple’. His hand was much bigger than hers, which wasn’t anything new, but after spooning that morning she was overthinking just about everything he did.

Did the Doctor even do that sort of thing? Did he feel things like that? He was an alien, she had to remind herself, maybe his people didn’t do romance.

But the way he acted, overprotective, gentle, reassuring, it was all so human.

Heading towards the Elder’s estate, Clara hadn’t said a word. The Doctor on the other hand had been talking almost nonstop about some sort of nonsense Clara didn’t understand. She nodded every now and then to show him she was listening, but she was more focused on the way his thumb was rubbing the back of her hand.

She wished she could just ask him how he felt, but the topic was delicate, he always skirted around flirting, Clara had no clue if it was because he was nervous or because he was uncomfortable.

They were standing in front of the estate before she knew it. “What are you even going to say to him?” Clara asked. “After last night I doubt he wants to talk to you.”

“I’m not sure what I’m going to say yet,” the Doctor said. “Something smart I’m sure.”

“I had an idea,” Clara said, “I was thinking it might help if we talked to some of the villagers rather than the Elder, they probably have a different perspective.”

“I think you’re quite right,” the Doctor said, “we should split up, I can deal with Lurcuadus and you can go make small talk with some of the residents.”

Splitting up was unappealing, but at least Clara would have some time alone to figure out why she couldn’t stop thinking about the Doctor like that. He gave her hand a quick squeeze before dropping it to knock on the door in front of them. “I won’t be too long,” he promised.

“Okay see you in a bit,” Clara met his eye, the door was opening in front of them.

“Be safe, honey,” he grinned. Oh, now he was being cheeky? There was a Weimpai standing in the doorway, Clara couldn’t let the Doctor one-up her. She stepped forward and pulled his face down to hers by the collar of his sweater. She took a breath in before quickly kissing him on the cheek, as close to his lips as she could get without actually touching them.

The Doctor gave her a wobbly smile. Pleased with herself, Clara spun on her heel and began to head away from the mansion. Her best idea of where to find some more talkative residents was the restaurant they had eaten at the night before. Clara liked to think she was good at starting conversation, hopefully this would be easy.

There were less customers in the restaurant this time, but still a few. Clara wandered in aimlessly, she didn’t have a clue where to start so she headed towards a table of three Weimpai, talking friendly to each other. They all glanced up towards her as she approached them. “Ah, hello,” she smiled. “I was hoping I could talk to you.”

The Weimpai all glanced at each other before one finally spoke up, “you’re here with that man, right?”

“Yes,” Clara pulled out the one empty chair at the table, “we’re trying to figure out why the weather went crazy.”

“Elder Lurcaudus says it’s the Gods,” they said, “we’ve angered them somehow.”

Clara frowned, memories of Ahketan were flashing through her mind, could there be some sort of false god here too? “What could you have possibly done to anger the Gods?” She asked.

“Our behavior,” a different Waimpai said, “the Elder believes we’ve been too provocative.”

“I thought that was part of your culture,” Clara tilted her head to the side, “why would that anger the Gods?”

“We aren’t to question the Elder,” the Waimpai was frowning, the lack of eyebrows making his expression look a bit off.

“What are your Gods like?” Clara asked, the conversation wasn’t giving her much information.

“Generous,” the Waimpai that hadn’t spoken yet was smiling fondly, “they’ve blessed us with fertile land and reliable food.”

“They’re usually calm, they give us gifts subtly.”

“So this is very unusual,” Clara pursed her lips.

“The God’s blessed us with the ability to love, we must have been taking advantage of their kindness.”

Clara thought back to the love clubs the Doctor had mentioned. “When did this weather start?”

“About a moon ago,” Clara had no clue how long a moon was on this planet compared to Earth, but the way they said it made her think it had been a while.

“When did you shut down the love clubs?” Clara asked.

“Well that would be…”

“It was before the weather changed,” the Waimpai said bitterly.

Something clicked in Clara’s mind. “Doesn’t that go against the idea that your provocative behavior caused the weather to change, if anything it sounds like the opposite to me.”

“We’re not to question the Elder.”

Clara determined that none of the Weimpai she was talking to were happy about the situation. “The Doctor talked to the Elder last night about opening up one of the love clubs today, just for a night.”

All three of the Weimpai seemed to light up at the prospect, Clara tried not to think about the fact she was talking about a sex club. In this culture it didn’t seem to be taboo at all.

“That would be lovely,” one of the Weimpai said, almost dreamily. Clara wasn’t 100% sure but she thought that one was probably female.

“I agree it would be lovely,” Clara smiled, “I think it would liven up the town immensely.”

The sound of the door to the cafe opening caught Clara’s attention, the Doctor was strutting in, looking pleased with himself. Clara mentally prepared for whatever bragging he was about to do.

“Hello Clara,” he came up behind her and leaned down to kiss the top of her head, she knew she was blushing and she hated it.

“I come bearing good news,” he announced to her and the Weimpai at the table. “Tonight Elder Lucuadrus agreed to open up one of your love clubs!”

The Weimpai were all grinning widely, Clara smiled as well, it was nice to feel like they were making a difference, even if it meant they were opening a sex club.

“We hope you and your mate join us,” the female Weimpai said to either Clara or the Doctor, she couldn’t tell.

“We’ll see about that,” Clara laughed out of embarrassment.

The Doctor was still standing behind her chair, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, “it certainly sounds like a good time.” He paused for a moment, “come on Clara I want to show you something.”

The sun was rising, much slower than the Earth’s sun. It also appeared much larger than the Earth’s sun. “It’s beautiful,” Clara said.

“Yes,” the Doctor was looking at her, “Clara I think something is in the air here.”

“Something bad?” Clara asked, alarmed.

“No, not really,” he shrugged, “I detected a small amount of a sort of gaseous aphrodisiac in the air.”

“Aphrodisiac?”

“The natives are very sexual in nature, it’s probably partially because of that component in the air.”

“What does it mean?” Clara asked, “does it have something to do with everything going wrong here?”

“I’m not sure, I have no clue what percentage of the air it usually makes up, it could be lower than usual right now.”

“It’s not going to mess with my head or anything is it?”

The Doctor smirked, “it only affects those who have interest in someone in particular.”

Clara didn’t like the sound of that, her heart began to race. Should she tell him? Were her thoughts being controlled by some sort of gas? “Doctor,” she said softly, “I need to tell you something.”

He looked worried, “are you feeling okay?”

“I think I’m okay,” she tried to smile, but she was incredibly anxious about what she was about to say, “I’m afraid that aphrodisiac might affect me.”

He turned so that they were facing each other, “Clara,” her name came out breathy. “Oh Clara, you’ll be fine. It would have an extremely mild effect you probably wouldn’t even really notice it-”

Clara grimaced, his face was still covered in worry. She took a step forward, “Doctor I think-”  
He cut her off by reaching out and wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling forward. “Who is it?” He asked, looking her in the eye.

Clara looked away, she hadn’t wanted to have this conversation, and especially not while standing outside in the cold. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, “he doesn’t feel the same way.”

The Doctor frowned, his forehead wrinkling, “anyone who rejects you is ridiculously stupid,” he declared.  
Clara took in a deep breath, “Doctor, it’s,” the words didn’t want to come out, she reached out to grab onto him, they were already close together due to his hand resting on her waist.

He looked at her for a moment, and then his eyes widened. “Wait are you saying?”

She nodded slowly, scared to admit something she barely had accepted herself.

The Doctor pulled her closer into a hug. She felt stiff, she hadn’t expected this reaction, she had half expected the Doctor to run away from her at the thought. “Oh Clara,” he sighed. He nuzzled his face into her shoulder.

She felt overwhelmed, he knew, he knew how she felt and he wasn’t running away.

“I need to sonic the sun,’ he said quietly, his mouth close to her ear.

Clara couldn’t believe him. “Are we okay?”

He was pulling away from her, “of course we’re okay,” he smiled and it looked genuine.

There was tension in the air, but the Doctor had successfully begun sonicing the sun, just as he had announced. Clara tried her hardest not to mind.

“Yes!” The Doctor exclaimed, he ran back towards Clara, his face lighting up,“I found something!”

Clara couldn’t help but smile back, but the weight of her confessing her feelings just moments ago was still on her mind. Had he even taken her seriously? “What did you find?” she asked, the words came out quieter than she’d meant them to.

“There’s some sort of artificial barrier blocking the sun's rays from hitting the atmosphere,”

“Someone is making it then, right?”

“Yes, now we just need to figure out who,” he still looked extremely giddy.

Clara bit her lip, he was really going to ignore what she had just admitted to him. She wasn’t entirely surprised, it was a very him thing to do. She supposed the only thing she could really do at the moment was act the same as him, as if nothing had happened. She must have been right, she must not feel like that towards her.

He was studying her face, “are you okay Clara?”

“Hmm? Yes I’m fine,” she forced a smile, “I’m glad you found something.”

“It shouldn’t even be that hard to track down the source,” the Doctor said, “which means we shouldn’t have to stick around here much longer!”

“Sounds great,” Clara said, but there was an obvious lack of enthusiasm in her voice.

The Doctor had clearly picked up on the fact she wasn’t feeling well, he came around towards her side, and placed a hand on her waist, leaning down so that they were a bit closer to eye level with each other. Clara felt as if the world had stopped, he was so close she could feel his breath on her forehead. “Clara,” he said her name like it was his favorite word. She felt her breath hitch, was he going to kiss her? It was one of those times when it certainly felt like he should.

“Not here,” he inhaled sharply, she had no clue what he meant by that.

“Doctor, what-”

He lifted one hand and cupped her cheek, “we need to find the Elder,” he said, in a low, whispery voice that gave Clara butterflies.

She pulled away from his grasp first. He was just teasing her at this point. He looked confused when she did so. They were both silent for a few seconds before the Doctor finally spoke up.

“He’s suspicious,” he cleared his throat, “the Elder I mean, he reeks of suspiciousness.”

“Yeah, suspicious,” Clara mumbled. Her mind was too fuzzy from the Doctor’s strange behavior to come up with anything better to say.

They walked around for a while, the air felt tense from Clara’s point of view, but the Doctor was trying his best to keep conversation flowing. He was saying something about the percentage of oxygen in the air, but Clara wasn’t listening very hard.

“And so then I realized it was the monkeys-” Clara blinked, glancing towards him, apparently he wasn’t talking about oxygen anymore.

He glanced in her direction wearing a soft smile that made her chest clench. “Are you okay Clara?”

“Fine,” she replied quickly.

“You’re making a face,” the Doctor said.

“Yeah, well so are you.”

They looked at each other for a moment, both making stern faces before Clara couldn’t help but giggle. What were they doing?

Nothing had really happened, but the air suddenly felt less tense and she had no problem reaching out to hold his ridiculously large hand.

They continued to walk through the village and Clara felt better, things were okay between them, seemingly normal. It was okay that they were just friends, because that was what they had always been.

Elder Lucaudrus was making a sour face when they finally found him. “Have you learned anything yet?” He asked.

“Yes, the sun coming out taught me quite a bit!” The Doctor smiled, his hand was settled on Clara’s waist. “It seems there’s some sort of barrier blocking out your sunlight, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“I had no idea,” the Elder said.”What could cause such a thing, and why?”

“That’s what I’m about to find out,” the Doctor grinned, he pulled away from Clara gently, “In fact I’m about to start looking into this right now, come along Clara,” she smiled as he grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her along, walking away from the Elder in a way that was probably considered rude.

“We spent all that time looking for him just for a 30 second conversation?” Clara asked, “I could’ve been inside warming up!”

“I wanted to know if he’d confess to doing anything suspicious,” the Doctor said.

“Do you really think he’s behind this? Sabotaging his own people?”

“With the knowledge that he’s actively promoting abstinence, I think it’s quite possible.”

“What now then?”

“I’m going to attempt to use the sonic to find the barrier’s source.”

Clara glanced down at the dirt beneath her feet, “I hope it works.”

A large gust of wind hit them, the Doctor’s hair blowing back from his forehead. “I don’t know if it will, but if it doesn’t I’ll figure something else out. I have plenty of ideas.”

Clara slid her hands into the sleeves of her sweater so they weren’t exposed to the cold, “next time I hope we end up somewhere tropical.”

“Well it was supposed to be tropical here,” the Doctor said, glancing at the area where her hands should be sticking out of her sleeves. “I know you’re cold Clara, let’s get you inside.”

Well, she wasn’t going to turn down that offer. They settled on the agreement that they would pick up some snacks and take a break in their hotel room.

“No crumbs in the bed,” the Doctor announced as they walked through the door, holding a grocery bag full of food in one hand, “picnic on the floor if you’re going to spill.”

“I’m not sitting on the floor! I’ll keep the crumbs on my side of the bed.”

“They’ll make their way to my side of the bed too!”

Clara snorted and bounced onto the bed in question. The Doctor didn’t take long to follow after her, his long limbs moving clumsily as he crawled up next to her. Clara suddenly felt the need to take a deep breath. Aphrodisiac in the air, she reminded herself.

The Doctor was humming something as he unloaded their bag of snacks. Clara was watching his hands closely, entranced by his long fingers. She tore her gaze away before her thoughts turned towards the gutter.

“This is supposed to taste like cornbread,” the Doctor said, handing her a small package.

“I like cornbread,” Clara said, her eyes wandering down to his hand again. It was so big compared to her own, she wondered what it would-

_No._

The Doctor raised a brow, “feeling okay Clara?”

She could tell her face was heating up, “yes, I’m 100% fine,” she smiled. “Nice and warm in here.”

“You don’t sound too pleased about that,” the Doctor scooted over, their legs were touching just barely. He was reaching forwards towards his sonic, which was sitting on the nightstand. “I’ll just do a quick scan-“

“You don’t have to scan me,” Clara groaned, “I’m fine!”

The Doctor grabbed the sonic but didn’t make any move to scan her with it. “Talk to me.”

She shrugged, “I don’t have much to say.”

“But you have something to say,” the Doctor didn’t usually pry so hard.

“It’s, there must be something in the air,” she felt incredibly awkward, but they had already had this conversation earlier that day.

“I have just the fix!” He smiled, goofy and wide, before pulling her rather roughly into his chest. “Such a mild aphrodisiac can be cured simply by some physical touch.”

“Doctor!” She squealed, “wait, slow down.”

He had managed to pull her so that her back was leaning against his chest, he was wrapping his arms around her front, “I didn’t think you’d mind,” he said, the words came out uncharacteristically uncertain.

“No, I don’t mind per say,” he was warm behind her, she was glad she didn’t have to look him in the face. “Is this okay with you?”

“Of course,” he rested one of his hands on her lap, “you’re under my protection and whatnot.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t really an issue of my safety,” Clara felt unusually stiff, even though being this close to the Doctor was nothing new.

“Well then think of it this way, it’s easier for me to make sure you’re paying attention to me this way.”

Clara laughed, “what’s to say I won’t just ignore you?”

The Doctor was silent for a moment, before slowly sliding his hand upwards, Clara had no idea what he was doing until very suddenly he was attacking the side of her stomach,

“Doctor, stop!” she shrieked, trying to squirm out of his grasp. Tickling, what a child.

He was stronger than he looked, keeping her against his chest with his free arm without much struggle. “See, I know you’re paying attention to me now,” he laughed, and Clara didn’t find it funny at all.

He’d stopped tickling her, but Clara was still fumining, she twisted around to face him, he was smiling until he saw her facial expression. Clara didn’t hesitate to push her palms against his chest, knocking him flat on his back. She hadn’t really planned ahead what she was going to do after that, though.

He flailed around a bit, Clara crawled towards him, until she was hovering over him, both of his legs in between hers. He was looking up with her with wide eyes, his hands, both at his sides, were twitching. She realized that maybe crawling on top of him hadn’t been the best move.

She looked at him for a moment, and then realized this was no good because he was gorgeous and sweet and had the stupidest look on his face. She ran her tongue over her top lip, and he seemed to notice, eyes drifting towards her mouth.  
It was a leap of faith, one that she hadn’t been planning on taking, she leaned down, her body still hovering over his, but her face closing the gap between them. She wanted him to give her some sort of permission, knowledge that he wasn’t going to freak out if she kissed him

Instead he stayed firmly in place, “Clara,” he said, “I don’t think,” his voice was hesitant,  
her stomach dropped. She began to pull away, face red from embarrassment, she should’ve known he wouldn’t want something like that with her-

Her train of thought was stopped by the feeling of his hand landing on her waist, she met his eye and she was surprised to find that he was now smiling softly, it was the same look he gave her after they hugged, or when he was telling her that she was special.

That was enough permission for her, she leaned back down, and finally pressed her lips against his, closing her eyes so she didn’t have to see what sort of face he was making.

She was surprised again when he kissed her back, his lips were just as gentle as the rest of him. He pulled her waist downward so that she was practically straddling him. His free hand trailed upwards to cup her cheek. It was nothing short of magical, and suddenly it was like a floodgate of emotion opened. The Doctor must have felt it too, because their kisses turned more frantic. Clara gripped both sides of his face and he made a small noise in the back of his throat. It was extremely attractive.

Unfortunately Clara had to pull back eventually, her breath was running short. Their lips parted and they met each other’s eyes. “Clara,” the Doctor murmured, “my Clara.”

She leaned down fully and wrapped her arms around him to the best of her ability. The Doctor chuckled lightly, adjusting so that she could fit her arms underneath him.

Clara was quiet, enjoying the feeling of warmth radiating between them. “I wasn’t sure you did that,” she admitted.

“What? Kissed?” He laughed as if the question was incredibly ridiculous, and ran a hand up her back, landing in her hair.

“Well I don’t know, maybe Time Lords did something else-”

“I’ve kissed you before Clara!”

“Forehead doesn’t count!”

“Why not?”

“Because!”

He ran his hand through her hair, “Clara Oswald, I most definitely kiss.”

She nuzzled her face into his neck, and then couldn’t resist kissing the skin in front of her. He inhaled sharply, “oh, sensitive?” She teased.

He grumbled something unintelligible.

She tried her luck and kissed his neck again, a little bit lower than the first time. He squirmed away.

“Cut it out.”

“Kiss me again.”

He did, and it was just as good as the first time, maybe even better. Clara felt him smile against her lips and she smiled back. She was kissing the Doctor, the man she’d spent days and days with, the man who’d shown her the universe in a way she never thought possible. The most eccentric yet kind man she knew. It was like a dream, she hoped it wasn’t a dream.  
He moaned into her mouth, and suddenly Clara was very aware of the way their bodies were touching, she was effectively sitting in his lap, and at some point he had pulled his knees up.

She ran her hands into his hair and he seemed to like that a lot, somehow pulling her even tighter into his chest.  
It was nothing less than hot and heavy, and Clara had no idea how far it was going to go. The Doctor didn’t seem to plan on stopping anytime soon, he was kissing her like she was oxygen, it was overwhelming.

He pulled back eventually, looking into her eyes, “are you okay?”

“Yes,” she was a little out of breath, but besides that she was ridiculously happy.

“Do you-“ he bit his lip. Clara raised a brow, she was convinced he was just being shy. He disproved that thought almost immediately, instead of speaking he grabbed her waist and pushed her back just slightly.

He was hard. The Doctor was hard and she was sitting on it (though multiple layers of fabric).

He was looking at her with something that definitely wasn’t shyness. She wasn’t the shy type either, she reminded herself. She rocked back onto him and he groaned, she couldn’t help but let a small sound escape her as well. He was incredibly warm, and she wanted nothing more than to push her hands up under his shirt.

He seemed to feel the same way, his hands weren’t flailing in their usual way, instead they were slowly making their way to her sides, she gasped when he finally cupped her breasts through her sweater.

Clara made the first move, pulling her sweater over her head, his hands moving quickly from outside the fabric to inside, his fingers touching the bare skin that was showing underneath the black bikini top that she’d been effectively using as a bra for the past couple days. The skin to skin contact felt amazing, Clara began pulling at the Doctor’s matching sweater, he cooperated, helping her pull it over her head, his tank top sticking to it as well.

He scooted back, pushing himself up towards the headboard, he surprised Clara by slipping his hands underneath her ass, lifting her up just long enough for him to sit up straight. Clara was reaching around her back to unhook her bikini top. The Doctor looked absolutely mesmerized as the fabric fell out from in front of her, she snatched it and threw it somewhere behind herself.

They were both bare chested, and the Doctor pulled her forwards so they were touching, kissing her once more. She could still feel him in between her thighs, and was beginning to get a bit impatient. She tested the waters, rocking a little bit against him.

He groaned and lifted his hips to match, the pressure felt incredible in between her legs.

The fact that they were still wearing pants was becoming an issue. Clara grabbed at the Doctor’s waistband, hoping he’d catch on. He had been grabbing at her bare chest, but paused. Clara moved onto her knees so she had room to pull down his swim trunks, fitting her fingers under his underwear’s elastic waistband as well. He was silent as she pulled down, his hard cock finally coming into her view. She knew she was staring but she couldn’t help it, he was larger than she expected. She took him in her hand, giving him an experimental squeeze. She glanced upwards to find the Doctor staring at her, his mouth gaping.  
She smiled, the face he was making was just so him. He looked at her for a moment more before clearing his throat lightly, “take those off,” he was motioning to her shorts. She swallowed thickly, she had to climb off of him to pull them past her feet properly. He reached down and took his cock in his own hand, Clara didn’t think her heart could race any faster.

He patted the empty spot on the mattress next to him and Clara sat down next to him, they were both fully naked now. He leaned over to kiss her, one hand wandering down to her thigh, she moaned when he slid it in between her legs, so close to touching her where she desperately wanted him to.

She reached over and grabbed onto his length again, this time beginning to stroke him, he responded by finally sliding his pointer finger through her slit, she was already wet just from seeing him fully exposed to her. He found her clit easily, and Clara moaned, her free hand grasping at the bed sheets.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, kissing and exploring each other, until Clara finally couldn’t take it out and let out a breathy, “Doctor.” He climbed on top of her quickly. He pressed his cock against her clit and they both moaned.

“Tell me what you want,” the Doctor’s lips were close to her ear.

“Doctor,” he was still rubbing her clit with the tip of his cock. “Doctor, I want you.”

“How?”

She groaned, his boldness was both unexpected and a turn on, “Inside, Doctor I want you to fuck me.”

He kissed the lobe of her ear, and pushed his hard length at her entrance, slowly sliding in.

They both inhaled deeply. He propped himself up further on his arms so he could see her. She grabbed at his back, he picked up a pace.

They were both breathing heavily. The Doctor was muttering in her ear every now and then, pushing her closer, feeling him like this was something she had almost given up the idea of.

He slowed down his pace slightly, and Clara glanced up to watch him lick the underside of his thumb. Her breath hitched when she realized what he was doing. He fit his hand between them, and his thumb found her clit. She gasped, clutching at him harder than she had been before. She knew she wasn’t going to last long if he kept that up.

“I want you to come on me,” he said, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Yes,” she gasped, he was touching her just the way she liked.

“Clara,” he met her gaze, “I want to come with you.”

That’s all it took, she grabbed onto the Doctor’s hand that was pressing flat onto the mattress. The tension that had been building was finally going to release. She came hard, the Doctor’s name on her lips. It wasn’t even a few seconds later that he moaned loudly and she felt him following her lead, coming inside her.

They came down from their highs together. He slouched over, kissing her forehead and pulling out gently. She smiled softly when he laid down next to her and wrapped an arm around her front, head curling in towards her shoulder.

They were quiet for a while, it was a comfortable silence.

“I was supposed to be investigating,” the Doctor grumbled eventually.

“Go investigate then.”

He groaned in response.

Walking back into the cold was torture. The Doctor was holding onto her hand firmly as they headed up the now-familiar dirt path. “I had an epiphany earlier,” he was saying, “about Elder Lucuadrus.”

“What? That he’s kind of an arse?”

“No, I already knew that,” he said, “I had an idea about why he might be sabotaging his own people.”

“You still think it’s him?”

“I’d like to say no, but he’s my only current candidate.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “He must be gaining something from promoting abstinence, right?”

Clara’s mind began to wander at the word abstinence. “What do you think he’s gaining?”

He shrugged, “I don’t have a clue, but I do know of a race that’s well known for scamming, they put up barriers like this one on other planets, absorb the extra energy from the nearest star, and then use it to basically run their society. It’s an interesting culture actually, they known for producing knick knacks-”

“So they scam leaders into giving them permission to do that? They must give them a hell of a good deal.”

“Yes, it varies,” he was waving his free hand around. “I do happen to know that they have to stay within a certain distance of the barrier for them to be able to maintain it.”

“So they have to be around here?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Not especially dangerous though?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary.”

Clara smiled. They hadn’t talked about what they done earlier, not that Clara really wanted to. Knowing the Doctor he was already six feet deep in regret. Clara knew he had good intentions, but Clara couldn’t imagine they would be able to just return to normal now. She didn’t want to dance along the border between friendship and something more, she wanted to be able to kiss him for no reason and fall asleep next to him every night.

He glanced in her direction, his cheeks were light pink from the cold wind. “We were supposed to go swimming,” he said.

“Hate to burst your bubble but it’s way too cold here for swimming.”

“I know,” the Doctor said, “was just thinking the pool in the TARDIS doesn’t get enough use.”

“Maybe you could show me around it once we’ve solved the mystery here.”

He smiled. “We’ll be out of here in no time, and then-” he paused.

“Then what?”

“Then we won’t have to worry about sharing a little hotel room,” the words came out in a rush. Clara blinked, he really didn’t like sharing with her? She hoped her face wasn’t showing any hurt. She had already guessed he would be feeling remorseful, but she had hoped she wasn’t right.

“Yeah, sharing with you is awful,” the words came out sharper than she meant them to.

He looked away, down towards the ground. “I didn’t mean- I just meant I thought you’d like the personal space. And as soon as we’re in the Tardis the atmosphere will return to what you’re used to, so-”  
Clara furrowed her brow, the atmosphere? Is that what he was going on about? Did he think that the aphrodisiac was the only reason she’d wanted him earlier?

She didn’t have a chance to ask him aloud, because suddenly there was a very loud bang coming from the direction they were walking in. The Doctor dropped her hand and started running immediately. She followed behind as close as she could.  
There was smoke rising from one of the nearby buildings. Clara couldn’t tell which it was until they got a bit closer. It was the restaurant she had become fond of. The Doctor threw the door open. The inside of the building was foggy, thick enough that Clara felt like she had to squint to see properly.

They moved in past the dining room towards the kitchen, looking for the source of the smoke. The dining room was empty, any customers had already cleared out. As they made their way into the kitchen, one Weimpai was still inside, “what happened?” the Doctor asked, voice full of worry.

“I don’t know, it came from there,” they pointed a tentacle towards the floorboards.

“Is there a basement?” The Doctor asked, whipping out his sonic.

“There used to be but it’s been boarded up for years.”

The Doctor dropped to his knees, pulling at a wooden floorboard. “There’s something down there.”

Clara stood behind him, leaning over trying to hear anything.

“We need to find a way down there,” the Doctor stood up, “come on Clara, help me.”

She followed him as he wandered around the room, stomping the floor boards and running his fingers along the walls. She was convinced she wasn’t going to be able to find anything, he always seemed to be the one finding the important clues.  
He was still turned the other way when Clara knocked into a wall completely by accident, and a loud creaking noise was emitted from below. He spun around, eyes on her briefly, and then falling to the floor. “What did you just do?”

She pointed at the area of wall she’d bumped her shoulder on, and he pointed his sonic at it.

Floor boards began to move, and Clara jumped back. There was a staircase opening below them, technology that seemed far too advanced for this society. She glanced towards the Doctor, who was peering downwards.

“I’ll go down,” he said.

“And I’ll follow you.”

He sighed, “stay close.”

They headed down slowly, the stairway was both dark and foggy, the Doctor was holding out the sonic to use as more of a flashlight than anything else.

There was a low rumbling noise coming from the distance. The basement smelled like must, and it wasn’t as warm as the main floor of the restaurant. The Doctor was reaching for her hand as they hit the bottom level. She took it, but she was still thinking about the way he’d been behaving before they entered the restaurant. They were going to have to have a serious talk after this was all worked out.

“Do you hear that?” He whispered, and all she heard was what sounded like the humming of a machine.

“Could it be whatever is creating the shield?”

“I believe so.”

The smallest flicker of light caught Clara’s eye, she squeezed the Doctor’s hand, “did you see that?”

“Yes.”

They headed towards it cautiously, the closer they got, the louder the machinery became. “Wish we had a torch,” Clara muttered.

“I can see better than you,” the Doctor said, she took that as a sign to not let go of his hand.

The machine seemed to be large, at least the size of a small car, there was a small blue-ish light flashing near what looked to be the bottom. It was so dark that everything Clara could see was fuzzy. Even the Doctor was a blurry shape by her side.  
“This is different,” the Doctor said, from what she could tell he had set his hand down on the machine, she felt like that was probably a bit dangerous.

“Different how?”

“Different as in not what I expected.”

“Ah, that clears things up.”

“Well it’s not as if you know much about atmospheric shield generators,” he said. She frowned, of course she didn’t but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to hear him ramble on about it for a few minutes.

He was continuing to run his hand over the machine. “I doubt I’ll be able to shut it off like this,” he said, “there’s some sort of lock on the system, the sonic will have a hard time with it.”

“I could go get a chair from upstairs,” Clara offered.

“In this case a chair might make things worse,” he adjusted his grip on her hand so that he was holding it tighter, he clearly hadn’t caught on to her sarcasm. “If this was destroyed it could really screw up the atmosphere.”

“Okay, no chair then.”

He stopped moving, “I think I’ve found the interface panel.” A square of light was suddenly in front of them, the Doctor’s face was being lit up as he leaned over it.

“Bad news, it’s locked- or actually good news because that means I was right,” he said. “Better news is that this writing is in Gonfourian, which means I was right again!”

“You sure? You being right twice in a row is usually a bad sign.”

“It is not!”

He led her back upstairs, the air was still thick with smoke. “Funny that there wasn’t anyone to be seen down there,” the Doctor said.

“Why would it just get all smokey like that?” Clara asked.

As they stepped out of the cafe, Clara’s concern about the smoke was the least of her worries. “It’s hot!” she exclaimed.  
“Not good!” The Doctor began looking around frantically. “We need to find the Elder.”

There was a lot of running, Clara didn’t think she’d ever miss the cold, but this was more than hot weather, it had to be at least 100 degrees, the stark difference between the cold and this was definitely not good for the environment.

The Elder was outside his estate, surrounded by a crowd of Weimpai, Clara found she was able to recognize a few of them as the ones she’d talked to in the cafe just that morning. The Doctor pushed through the crowd without hesitation, “what’s going on here?” He demanded, most of the Weimpai looked at him incredulously.

“I’m no expert on the weather,” Elder Lucuadrus glared at the Doctor, “the Gods have been angered again-”

“It’s not-”

“The Gods are angered and isn’t it convenient that this has happened right after I allowed a love club to be opened for your sake? Clearly closing them was the right decision!”

Judging by the Weimpais’ facial expressions, they trusted their Elder more than the Doctor by far. “You must know about-”  
He was cut off again by the Elder, Clara could tell the Doctor was extremely frustrated. “Arrest him! And the girl too!”  
Clara gasped, there were suddenly tentacles wrapped tightly around her arms, pulling them behind her back. She glanced in the Doctor’s direction to find he was in the same situation as her.

“No! Please stop this! It’s not the Gods!” He was yelling towards just about every Weimpai.

“Doctor!” Things had turned for the worse so quickly.

He looked at her, his eyes softer than they had been when he was yelling, “let her go!” he demanded of the Elder. “She didn’t do anything!”

“She’s your companion, she caused as much trouble as you!”

Clara was being pulled backwards, she stumbled trying to hold her ground. They were taking her and the Doctor past the

Elder’s estate. She tried to keep her eyes on the Doctor, but she was being pulled along roughly.

The jail cell was small, stone walls surrounded them. Clara was surprised and grateful that they had been thrown into the same cell at least. The Doctor was furious, pacing around in circles. “Stupid wood,” he was grumbling, referring to the door.

“We’ll get out,” Clara said, but she had no clue if it was true.

At the sound of her voice, the Doctor redirected his path towards her. She was leaning against the wall. “The atmosphere is going crazy, these people are in danger and that stupid leader isn’t helping at all!”

“What if it’s not him,” Clara said, “what if he’s really just a pain in the ass and he really doesn’t know about the machine?”

“Well that would mean someone else knows about it,” the Doctor said. “But who else could it be?”

“I just think we should be open minded,” Clara said.

“We need to get out of here,” the Doctor said, “it doesn’t matter who allowed this now, we need to find the Gonfourian.” He pulled out his sonic, knowing damn well it wouldn’t work on wood.

Clara watched him, her arms crossed over her chest. The Doctor was as close to panicking as she’d seen him in a while. She took a deep breath and walked up to him, placed one hand on his hip, the other on his cheek, and pulled him downwards far enough to kiss him.

He only resisted for a split second. It was a quick kiss, nothing like how they’d kissed back in the hotel room, but it seemed to bring him back to the ground. A small smile grew on his lips, “thank you,”

“We’ll get out of here,” Clara repeated.

He nodded, “yes of course we will,” they were still close enough to kiss again, he was leaning downwards towards her without her even having to pull on him. “The question is how.”

Clara dragged her eyes away from his face, she had temporarily forgotten that she was mad at him for insinuating she only wanted him because of the aphrodisiac. She pulled her hand away from his cheek at the reminder. “I don’t have a clue,” she said. The response was slower than it should have been.

He looked at her in a way she couldn’t decipher. “I’ll start checking for weak spots,” he mumbled.

Clara sighed. She couldn’t tell what was going on between them. She didn’t usually feel the need to define a relationship, but this was the Doctor, this wasn’t supposed to be some sort of one time hookup.

She was startled by the sound of something moving on the other side of the door. Was there someone standing guard? The door flung open, standing on the other side of the doorway was a Weimpai, breathing hard, eyes wide. Clara recognized them immediately, it was the girl who she had talked to in the cafe, the one who had been joyous at the idea of love clubs reopening.

“Come, quick,” she said. Clara smiled, it was a huge stroke of luck.

“Who are you?” The Doctor asked quickly.

“A friend,” she motioned them to come on, Clara glanced towards the Doctor and nodded.

They followed her out of the cell, there was a suspicious lack of Weimpai around. “The Elder is outside making crazy claims,” she said, “he says it’s the Gods, but the Gods have always been kind, this must be something else.”

“Yes, very smart,” the Doctor nodded, “we have a good idea of what is really going on. We want nothing more than to help your people.”

“We need to get to the restaurant,” Clara said, “do you know a faster way to get there?”

The Weimpai thought for a second, “there’s a back way, you shouldn’t pass many people.”

“You’re amazing help!” the Doctor exclaimed.

Time passed in a blur as they made way from their jail cell to the cafe. The heat was terrible, Clara was sure she had sweat through everything she was wearing. The smoke had cleared out of the dining room when they entered. “I’m going down again,” the Doctor said. “Clara, stay here in case someone comes in from the outside.”

“By someone do you mean an evil alien?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, glad we’re on the same page.”

He hurried away into the kitchen, leaving Clara alone in the dining room. She let out a deep breath, wishing she had a hair tie, the sweat on the back of her neck was causing her hair to stick to her skin uncomfortably.

It was quiet without the Doctor nearby, she hoped it would stay that way. It was always just her luck that the monsters caught her when she was alone. She sat down by one of the empty tables, eyes glued to the door. Was the Doctor going to try to turn off the machine? Earlier he hadn’t seemed to know how.

Clara rested an elbow on the table, propping her face up with the palm of her hand. What had she gotten herself into? Not the  
current alien adventure, but the fact that she had slept with the Doctor. Why had she done that? Well, she knew why, it was quite simply because she cared about him more than anyone else in the world. She thought he had reciprocated her feelings, but he probably just saw her as another stupid human. The thought made her chest clench, he wouldn’t really think that would he?

“Clara!” Her name came from the Doctor’s direction, muffled and sounding strangled. She jumped up from the table as fast as

she could, trying her best not to trip running down the stairs.

She caught sight of the Doctor as soon as she hit the floor of the basement. There was more light in the room than there had been earlier. He was being pressed against the large silver machine by an alien that was taller than him, they were bright red, and sort of slimy-looking. Clara didn’t have too much time to stare at the alien because the Doctor was waving her down.

She had no clue what she was supposed to do up against an alien that towered over her, but she couldn’t just leave the Doctor where he was. “Hey you!” She yelled, the creature turned around to face her, it was even uglier from the front, it’s face almost piglike.

The Doctor took its distraction to slip out of its grasp. He jumped around the machine, heading towards Clara, “Gonfourian!” He yelped.

“What now?” She asked, eyes darting between him and the Gonfourian who had only stayed discombobulated for a moment.

“Peppers!”

“What?”

“Gonfourians hate peppers!”

The information was both extremely odd, and also convenient. “There’s a kitchen above us!”

The Doctor offered her a dazzling smile, “yes, Clara! That’s my girl!” He grabbed her hand and they ran up the stairs to raid the  
kitchen.

“Why do they hate peppers?” Clara yelled as she flung open cabinets.

“Biology,” the Doctor was throwing food in every direction, “long story short, it’s a species wide allergy!”

Clara’s eyes landed on exactly what she needed, she ripped the glass jar off of the shelf, “Doctor! Here,” he held his hands up and she tossed it towards him. He caught it with ease and spun to face the staircase. The alien was marching up the stairs loudly.

The sound of the jar’s lid hitting the floor alerted the Gonfourian, “This is going to sting!” The Doctor yelled, and Clara couldn’t help but find it funny that he was throwing red chilli peppers at the monster.

He nailed the alien in the head, and it shrieked, sounding just as much like a pig as it looked. “That’ll keep it distracted for a few minutes,” the Doctor motioned to Clara, “we have to get out of here!”

“Where now?” The heat was still splintering.

“It’s not the Elder,” the Doctor said, they were stopped a few feet away from the cafe.

“I was right?”

“Yes!”

“Who is it then?”

“An imposter!”

“What?”

“The Elder isn’t really the Elder!”

“What, like some sort of shapeshifter?”

“Yes, yes, I’ll explain later,” the Doctor ran a hand through his hair, “for now we need to find them.”

More running, and then even more running. Clara was getting way more of a workout than she ever could have asked for.  
Finding the fake-Elder had been easy as he was still preaching about the terrifying wrath of the Gods and surrounded by a crowd. Getting the fake-Elder by themself was the hard part. “This isn’t your leader!” The Doctor had announced, and the Weimpai had looked at him like he was crazy, which was true, but he was telling the truth.

There was a lot of yelling, but eventually the Doctor had taken it upon himself to drag the fake leader out of the crowd. “I know what you are,” he said, and grabbed at the alien’s wrist.

“Oh god,” Clara said. The alien she’d thought was Elder Lucuadrus was suddenly much smaller, and covered in fur.

“I never knew you lot did this sort of thing,” the Doctor said, raising the creature up by the thick fur on its chest.

“We usually don't,” it snapped. Clara thought it looked sort of like a big rodent.

“What’s in it for you?” The Doctor asked, Clara was curious about the answer as well.

“These people,” it spat, “are murderers of my kind. They are foolish and sit back while I lead them to their own demise.”

“Ah, revenge,” The Doctor scoffed, “wars happen everywhere, you can either mourn the losses or create more casualties.”

“Someone has to give them a taste of their own medicine.”

“Tell me how to deactivate that shielding device.”

The alien shrugged, “I have no clue, ask the Gonfourian,” it laughed.

The Doctor was glaring hard, Clara standing back a ways. “Clara, we’re going to need more peppers.”

It took the rest of the jar of peppers for the Gonfourian to turn the shield machine off, Clara couldn’t stand to watch after a while because the allergic reaction was so sickening. Luckily the Doctor had a stronger stomach than her.

The machine was shut out with a loud chu-chunk and Clara let out a sigh of relief, it was finally over, they could finally hop back in the TARDIS and get out of there.

“What happened to the real Elder?” Clara asked as they walked back to the TARDIS. The Doctor had given a lovely, hopeful speech to the townspeople and then was just as happy as Clara to get out of there.

“Well that’s a good question,” he said, “unfortunately the answer is probably that he’s er dead.”

“Ah, lovely,” Clara said.

“But now the Weimpai will be able to go back to normal! The sonic could already detect the aphrodisiac levels in the air rising, along with the temperature stabilizing!”

“That’s good!” Clara smiled.

“Let’s hope the TARDIS is happy to see us.”

Ah yes, the reason they had even been sleeping in the hotel in the first place. “She better be, I want to visit the hot tub, my feet are killing me.”

“I promise you’ll get to the hot tub.”

He unlocked the door, and the familiar surroundings of the console room came into view. Clara smiled, it felt like home. The Doctor most definitely felt the same running up to the console so fast it startled her. “You go take your bath, I think I’ll work on some maintenance for a little while.”

She looked at him for a moment before moving. Ah, yes, she was supposed to be interrogating him about whatever was going on between them. She opened her mouth, and then closed it again. “I thought you might like to join me,” she finally settled on.  
It was certainly late at night by now, at least by Earth’s time. The Doctor looked up from the TARDIS console towards her. “I’m not much of a hot tub person,” he said, which was ridiculous.

Clara frowned, “Doctor-”

“I’m getting us off planet,” he said, eyes turning back towards the TARDIS.

Clara wasn’t going to let him keep drawing this out, but she also was tired and really did want to visit that hot tub. “Well I’ll be there, I mean- if you happen to change your mind-”

“Yes, I’ll think on it Clara.”

She tried not to show the disappointment on her face as she walked away, into the hallway where she could finally let out a sigh. Why couldn’t he just be a normal man? He’s an alien.

The TARDIS was apparently feeling sympathy for her, because the entrance to the pool wasn’t nearly as far of a walk as it usually was. The hot tub in question was settled in the far end of the room. She flipped on the jets as she passed by, and as she stepped into the water realized it was an even more perfect temperature than she expected. The TARDIS must have been feeling really bad for her.

She sat lost in thought for a few minutes, sitting alone in a hot tub was both relaxing and boring she realized, especially when her mind was clouded with thoughts that she had screwed up her relationship with the Doctor.

She was still thinking too hard when the jets turned off, stupid timer. She pulled herself out of the water and the cold air gave her a pleasant jolt.

“I could’ve gotten that for you,” the voice startled her terribly.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“Sorry, I thought you heard me come in.”

She most certainly hadn’t, and she also hadn’t even known there was a back door to the room. “Didn’t expect you to take up the offer.”

“Well, we’re safely in the time vortex now,” he grinned lopsidedly. He was already shirtless, “the offer still stands right?”

“Of course,” she forced a smile, heading back into the water stiffly.

He followed after her, sitting across the bench, leaning his head back, “I haven’t been in here in a long while.” She watched him quietly, hoping he would just start talking about something, anything. “Do you like it?”

“It’s very nice,” she crossed her fingers in her lap.

“I thought I’d say,” he cleared his throat, “I know things happened back there, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for taking advantage of you.”

“What?” Clara’s eyes widened.

“The aphrodisiac was something I should have kept in mind, and it shouldn’t have even affected me, I’m so sorry Clara,“ he was giving her the big sad puppy look.

“Doctor, you’ve got this very wrong,” she already knew he had the wrong idea, but this was just not okay.

“No, no, trust me I’m old enough to know what I did was wrong. I’d understand if you wanted me to take you home.”

“Doctor, seriously, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Clara reached across the warm water and placed a hand on his bare knee.

“Doctor I would never have let that happen if I didn’t want it.”

“You don’t even know if you wanted it,” the Doctor shook his head, “you were breathing in an aphrodisiac Clara.”

“Well I’m not breathing one in now.”

“Clara don’t-”

“Doctor I let you fuck me because I wanted you to, and because I’ve been daydreaming about it for longer than I can remember,” she knew she was blushing, but she had never been one to shy away from saying what she needed to.

He was gaping at her, “Clara you don’t have to say that.”

“Doctor, come on, I know you’re not that dense.”

He looked her in the eye, “Clara I’m over a thousand years old.”

“I know,” she didn’t break eye contact, “I don’t mind.”

He placed one of his hands on top of the one she was resting on his knee, “Clara I care about you very much.”

She smiled, “I know, I’m your impossible girl.”

He finally smiled in return, “Clara Oswald you always surprise me.”

They only looked at each other for a few more seconds before they gravatitated together, the Doctor’s hands lifting out of the water to rest on her cheeks. When they kissed it was like a sigh of relief. It was soft and sweet and Clara couldn’t imagine giving it up for the world.

They kissed for what didn’t feel like much time, but was enough for both of them to decide it was time to get out of the hot tub. Clara laughed when he stood up close enough to the edge of the pool for her to push him in. He came up looking like a wet dog which made her laugh even harder.

She jumped in after him, supposing the cool water would feel nice. He splashed her like a child and Clara was the happiest she’d been in a while.

When they finally calmed down, she stood up and hugged him tight, the water up to her waist. “I love you,” she said.

He tightened his hold on her, “I love you too, Clara.”

It was a few days later when Clara finally asked, “why was the TARDIS in such a bad mood?”

The Doctor laughed, “I’m not sure you want to know.”

“Come on, tell me!” She elbowed him in the side as he pulled at a lever on the console.

“Well she was a bit fed up with me,” he said, “she wanted me to own up to my feelings.”

“Own up to your- about us?” Clara couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “did your TARDIS set us up?”

“Well when you put it that way,” he grinned sheepishly, “I suppose that was her intention.”

Clara gave the console a pat, “thanks old girl, I knew you didn’t really hate me. Where to now?”

“Well I was thinking we could try to find somewhere with the most neutral temperature we could,” the Doctor said, completely seriously.

Clara laughed and took his hand, things had changed between them, but their relationship was stronger than ever. As they sped through the time vortex she couldn’t imagine a better way to spend her days.

**Author's Note:**

> Never thought I'd be writing whouffle fic in 2020 but here I am... Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed !!!


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